tl;dr:“Tech companies are opting to keep their size fixed as they ride out the current economic phase that has higher interest rates and less cheap investment available. As a result, managers are now expected to have more direct reports, less layers, and to be more hands-on with their teams.” What exactly can you do in order to be in the details? And is it possible to do this without micromanaging? James shares techniques.
tl;dr:“I’ll pitch the takeaway up front, and it’s this: hold yourself accountable for making decisions and progressing discussions as quickly as possible, by whatever means necessary. Be restless while a decision hasn’t been made. Dead time is your enemy. Be creative about ways of shaving minutes, hours and days from a decision point.” James gives several examples of how to approach this.
tl;dr:“When you are faced with no obvious way to solve a staffing challenge, it can be helpful to think about the problem differently. One way to do this is to think about the situation in terms of concentric circles. What I mean by concentric circles is imagining that the team asking for more people is at the center of a series of circles.”
tl;dr:“But this isn't an article about how bad we are at estimating, nor does it offer any solutions for you to getting better at estimating. In fact, I want to focus on why dates are pretty dangerous things to be throwing around in the first place, and what an alternative might look like that could save you a lot of pain.”
tl;dr:“The heartbeat is a communication that looks back at the strategy, recaps the key points, and then shows how it has been implemented in the time since the last heartbeat. It's a chance to show how the strategy is living and relevant, and that it's not just a document that was written once and then placed on the shelf.” James shares strategies for doing so.
tl;dr:“I think that a healthier way to encapsulate speed, scope and quality is thoroughness. Thoroughness is about how much you're willing to explore the problem domain, how much you're willing to experiment versus build resilient systems, and how long what you're going to build is intended to last.” James discusses how to manage thoroughness as a new dimension.
tl;dr:“The global maxima is the point at which we are at our most skilled, our most impactful, and the most satisfied. The global maxima may not even be a role, but a state of being where everything comes together: life, work, compensation, contribution, and happiness. Try restarting your career conversations with your direct reports by asking them what this global maxima is for them.” James shares some primer questions.
tl;dr:The disappointment frontier is the void formed from the mismatch between your team and reality. “Overcommunication, transparency, and a clear delineation between what you can and can't control will help you navigate the disappointment frontier bridging your team's world and the external reality. It's not your job to create a perfect utopia for your team. Instead, it's your job to help them successfully navigate reality with you as their guide.”
tl;dr:“Performance review season always gets people thinking: where am I going? Where do I want to be next year? Why haven't I managed to get that promotion this time around? What's the point of all of this anyway?” James discusses the patterns he commonly sees in reports and how being transfixed on a single goal can do more harm than good.
tl;dr:A good performance management system includes: (1) Clear definitions of performance expectations for each role. (2) Regular performance review processes - self-assessment, manager assessment, peer feedback. (3) Calibration to ensure fairness and consistency across the organization. (4) Performance Improvement Plan process for underperforming employees. (5) Compensation process tied to performance outcomes. James discusses how this generates a power curve over time.